See this post from Dowd's Spirits Notebook (http://spiritsnotebook.blogspot.com/):

It's not the same as last year's Knob Creek shortage, when the bourbon distiller reported it was temporarily out of enough aged whiskey to bottle.

In this instance, the folks who make Angostura Bitters apparently have plenty of product, What they don't have is enough bottles to put it in.

The globally popular cocktail ingredient has been in short supply since the second half of 2009 because of an ongoing dispute between the House of Angostura in Trinidad and Tobago and the company that supplies its bottles. Production was halted in November, although since then a limited number of bottles have been delivered.

Some bars and restaurants have been hoarding their supply until the pipeline reopens. At the moment, the manufacturer is being vague about when that may be.

ratcheer

01-20-2010, 18:45

I have what should be a good supply - a partial bottle and another unopened one. However, my wife discovered it and likes to cook with it, sometimes using several teaspoons at a time. :skep:

Tim

cowdery

01-20-2010, 21:57

I suspect the 'dispute' has to do with Angostura not paying its bills since the collapse and nationalization of its parent company.

Apparently bitters are not hard to make. Lots of bars make their own.

My current bottle is about half full, which means I'll probably need a new one before 2020.

GOCOUGS2002

01-20-2010, 23:05

I spent weeks looking for bitters around here, a couple weeks ago my local store finally received a shipment. Like Chuck, that bottle will last me for years.

flsean

01-27-2010, 17:23

We've been out at my store for quite a bit, only got two bottles in today. For our store, that is a very small amount. I should have asked our vendor about it today.

I'll ask him later this week.

Personally, I'm more curious about whether or not there is going to be a Barbhancourt rum shortage since I hear there was some damage to their distillery and warehouse during the earthquake. I picked up the last bottle of 15 year today just in case.

wintermute

09-18-2010, 12:59

Where do you all go for your bitters? In NY, wine & spirits stores don't carry the and I can only find Angostura in the supermarkets.

ratcheer

09-18-2010, 16:39

Where do you all go for your bitters? In NY, wine & spirits stores don't carry the and I can only find Angostura in the supermarkets.

I get mine at Wal-Mart. The last time I looked, they had plenty of Angostura, again. I bought another bottle just in case.

Tim

imbibehour

09-18-2010, 17:47

This was reported some time ago, the bottle controversy is over and done with...

But it made some interesting times though as people started hoarding it!

That said I have no problem here and also I get some of the Fee Brothers stuff which is quite good. I also like Regans Orange.

cowdery

09-21-2010, 19:46

I love Binny's here in Chicago but they do a lousy job with bar ingredients. I used to be able to get Stirring Blood Orange Bitters there but they stopped carrying it. They only started to carry Fee Brothers when they couldn't get Angostura, and they don't carry Regan's (which like Peychauds and Herbsaint is made at Buffalo Trace).

jburlowski

09-22-2010, 15:09

Surprisingly (or not), Amazon.com has a pretty good selection.

imbibehour

09-25-2010, 09:35

In DC I am lucky and occasionally run in to obscure cocktail ingredients fairly well, although sometimes I have to hunt em down.

The last store I was in they had a bunch of Fee Brothers bitters, I bought just about all of them :lol: